Write-once optical disc, and method and apparatus for recording management information on write-once optical disc

ABSTRACT

A writable-once optical recording medium such as a BD-WO, and a method and apparatus for managing the writable-once optical recording medium, are provided. The recording medium includes at least one recording layer having at least one temporary defect management area and at least one final defect management area. The method includes recording temporary defect management information in the temporary defect management area of the recording medium, the temporary defect management information including disc usage management information indicating a recording use status of the recording medium; and transferring, at a transfer stage, the temporary defect management information from the temporary defect management area to the final defect management area of the recording medium.

[0001] This application claims the priority benefit of Korean PatentApplication No. P2003-011830 filed on Feb. 25, 2003 and No. P2003-016775filed on Mar. 18, 2003, the entire contents of which are herein fullyincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to a writable-once optical disc anda management information recording method and apparatus, and moreparticularly, to a method and apparatus for efficiently recording discusage management information on a writable-once optical disc.

[0004] 2. Discussion of the Background Art

[0005] Optical disc, which is a kind of optical recording media and canrecord a large amount of data, is widely being used. Today, a kind ofinnovative high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) such as a blueray disc (Blu-ray Disc), which can record and store video data of highquality and audio data of high fidelity for a long time, is underdevelopment.

[0006] The Blu-ray disc is a next generation optical recording solutionthat can store a larger amount of data than a conventional DVD. TheBlu-ray disc employs a blue-violet laser with the wavelength of 405 nmwhich is shorter than the wavelength of 650 nm of a red laser used toaccess a conventional DVD. The Blu-ray disc has generally a thickness of1.2 mm and a diameter of 12 cm. It includes a light transmission layerwhose thickness is 0.1 mm so that the Blu-ray disc can store a largeramount of data than the current DVDs.

[0007] Various standards related to the Blu-ray discs are indevelopment. Among the different types of Blu-ray discs, a Blu-ray DiscRewritable (BD-RE) and a Blu-ray Disc Write-Once (BD-WO) are beingdeveloped.

[0008]FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a structure of a recording areaof a general BD-RE. Referring to FIG. 1, the BD-RE includes a recordinglayer divided into a lead-in area, a data area and a lead-out area. Thedata area includes a user data area for recording user data thereon, andan inner spare area ISA0 and an outer spare area OSA0 each allocated inthe inner tracks and the outer tracks of the disc. These spare areas areused as replacement areas for replacing data in a defective area of theuser data area according to linear replacement.

[0009] In the BD-RE, if a defective area is found in the user data areaduring recording, data in the defective area is transferred to andrecorded on a spare area using linear replacement. Further, as defectmanagement information for managing the defective area, positioninformation and the like relating to the defective area and thecorresponding spare area are recorded on defect management areas (DMA1˜DMA 4) in the lead-in area and the lead-out area. Also, since data canbe recorded on and erased from any area of the BD-RE repeatedly (sincethe BD-RE is rewritable), the entire BD-RE can be randomly usedirrespective of a specific recording mode.

[0010] In contrast, in a writable-once Blu-ray disc (BD-WO), data can berecorded only one time on a specific area of the disc. As a result, theBD-WO has certain limitations pertaining to recording modes and inrandomly using the entire area of the disc due to the defect managementdifficulty.

[0011] Further, in a BD-WO, management of the defective areas is one ofthe important matters that needs to be addressed, especially for datarecording operations. But since the BD-WO is still in the earlydevelopment stage, there are no schemes, no disc structures, noapparatuses, and no methods on how to manage the defective areas of theBD-WO, which will be needed for the BD-WO to be commercially viable andoperationally feasible. Accordingly, for the BD-WO, a unifiedspecification is required that would satisfy the aforementioned advancedrequirements. But any proposed specification relating to the currentBD-RE cannot be used because it does not address the needs of the BD-WO.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a writable-onceoptical disc and a management information recording method and apparatusthat substantially obviate one or more problems due to limitations anddisadvantages of the background art.

[0013] An object of the present invention is to provide a writable-onceoptical disc and a management information recording method and apparatusfor effectively recording and managing disc usage management informationtherein.

[0014] Additional advantages, objects, and features of the inventionwill be set forth in part in the description which follows and in partwill become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art uponexamination of the following or may be learned from practice of theinvention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may berealized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in thewritten description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

[0015] To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordancewith the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly describedherein, there is provided a method of managing a writable-once opticalrecording medium, the recording medium including at least one recordinglayer, the method comprising: providing a user area and a non-user areaon the at least one recording layer of the recording medium; providingat least one temporary defect management area in at least one of theuser area and the non-user area, the at least one temporary defectmanagement area allocated to store therein temporary defect managementinformation including disc usage management information, the disc usagemanagement information indicating a recording or non-recording status ofthe user area of the recording medium; and providing at least one finaldefect management area in the non-user area.

[0016] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a methodof managing a writable-once optical recording medium, the recordingmedium including at least one recording layer, the at least onerecording layer having at least one temporary defect management area andat least one final defect management area, includes: recording temporarydefect management information in the at least one temporary defectmanagement area of the recording medium, the temporary defect managementinformation including disc usage management information indicating arecording use status of the recording medium; and transferring thetemporary defect management information from the at least one temporarydefect management area to the at least one final defect management areaof the recording medium.

[0017] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, anapparatus for managing a writable-once optical recording medium, therecording medium including at least one recording layer, includes acombination of components configured for: providing a user area and anon-user area on the at least one recording layer of the recordingmedium; providing at least one temporary defect management area in atleast one of the user area and the non-user area, the at least onetemporary defect management area allocated to store therein temporarydefect management information including disc usage managementinformation, the disc usage management information indicating arecording or non-recording status of the user area of the recordingmedium; and providing at least one final defect management area in thenon-user area.

[0018] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, anapparatus for managing a writable-once optical recording medium, therecording medium including at least one recording layer, the at leastone recording layer having at least one temporary defect management areaand at least one final defect management area, the apparatus includes acombination of components configured for: recording temporary defectmanagement information in the at least one temporary defect managementarea of the recording medium, the temporary defect managementinformation including disc usage management information indicating arecording use status of the recording medium; and transferring thetemporary defect management information from the at least one temporarydefect management area to the at least one final defect management areaof the recording medium.

[0019] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, awritable-once optical recording medium includes: at least one recordinglayer including a user area and a non-user area; at least one temporarydefect management area provided in at least one of the user area and thenon-user area of the recording medium, so as to store therein temporarydefect management information including disc usage managementinformation, the disc usage management information indicating arecording or non-recording status of the user area of the recordingmedium; and at least one final defect management area provided in thenon-user area.

[0020] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, awritable-once optical recording medium includes: at least one recordinglayer including at least one temporary defect management area and atleast one final defect management area, wherein temporary defectmanagement information is recorded in the at least one temporary defectmanagement area of the recording medium, the temporary defect managementinformation including disc usage management information indicating arecording use status of the recording medium, and wherein the temporarydefect management information is transferred from the at least onetemporary defect management area to the at least one final defectmanagement area of the recording medium.

[0021] It is to be understood that both the foregoing generaldescription and the following detailed description of the presentinvention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to providefurther explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide afurther understanding of the invention and are incorporated in andconstitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of theinvention and together with the description serve to explain theprinciple of the invention. In the drawings:

[0023]FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a structure of a generalsingle-layer BD-RE:

[0024]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an optical recording/reproducingdevice according the present invention;

[0025]FIG. 3 illustrates a structure of a writable-once optical discsuch as a single layer BD-WO according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0026]FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a DDS structure on a rewritabledisc, a TDDS structure on a BD-WO and a disc management informationrecording method for the BD-WO according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0027]FIG. 5 illustrates a structure of a writable-once optical discsuch as a dual layer BD-WO according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0028]FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate a structure of the clusters in a DMA ofa dual layer BD-RE, for explaining further the aspects of the presentinvention;

[0029]FIG. 7 illustrates a structure of a DMA and a TDMA of a dual layerBD-WO and a method of transferring data from the TDMA to the DMAaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030]FIG. 8 illustrates a structure of a DMA and a TDMA of a dual layerBD-WO and a method of transferring data from the TDMA to the DMAaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031]FIG. 9 illustrates a structure of a DMA and a TDMA of a dual layerBD-WO and a method of transferring data from the TDMA to the DMAaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032]FIG. 10 illustrates a structure of a DMA and a TDMA of a duallayer BD-WO and a method of transferring data from the TDMA to the DMAaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033]FIG. 11 illustrates a structure of a DMA and a TDMA of a duallayer BD-WO and a method of transferring data from the TDMA to the DMAaccording to an embodiment of the present invention; and

[0034]FIG. 12 illustrates a structure of a writable-once optical discsuch as a single layer BD-WO according to another embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0035] Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodimentsof the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numeralswill be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

[0036]FIG. 2 is an example of a block diagram of an optical discrecording/reproducing device 20 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. The optical disc recording/reproducing device 20includes an optical pickup 22 for writing/reading data to/from anoptical recording medium 21, a servo unit 23 for controlling the pickup22 to maintain a distance between an objective lens of the pickup 22 andthe recording medium 21 and for tracking relevant tracks on therecording medium 21, a data processor 24 for processing and supplyinginput data to the pickup 22 for writing, and for processing data readfrom the recording medium 21, an interface 25 for exchanging data and/orcommands with any external host 30, a memory or storage 27 for storinginformation and data therein including defect management data as needed(e.g., temporary defect management information, etc.) associated withthe recording medium 21, and a microprocessor or controller 26 forcontrolling the operations and elements of the recording/reproducingdevice 20. Data to be written/read to/from the recording medium 21 mayalso be stored in the memory 27 if needed. All the components of therecording/reproducing device 20 are operatively coupled. The recordingmedium 21 is a recording medium of write-once type such as a BD-WO.

[0037] All the methods and disc structures discussed herein according tothe present invention can be implemented using the recording/reproducingdevice 20 of FIG. 2 or any other suitable device/system. For example,the microcomputer 26 of the device 20 may be used to control allocationof the disc structure and to control the recording of defect managementdata on the recording medium and the transferring of the defectmanagement data from a temporary area (e.g., TDMA) to a permanent orfinal area (e.g., DMA) on the recording medium 21. The TDMA and DMA willbe discussed later in more detail.

[0038] A defect management information recording method for awritable-once optical disc such as a BD-WO according to the preferredembodiments of the present invention will be now described in detailwith reference to the accompanying drawings. For a discussionconvenience, a writable-once Blu-ray disc (BD-WO) will be exemplified.Herein, two types of a BD-WO—a single layer BD-WO and a dual layerBD-WO—are discussed. The single layer BD-WO has a single recordinglayer, whereas the dual layer BD-WO has two recording layers.

[0039]FIG. 3 illustrates a structure of a writable-once opticalrecording medium such as a single-layer BD-WO according to an embodimentof the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the BD-WO includes alead-in area, a data area, and a lead-out area allocated on the singlerecording layer. Each of the lead-in area and the lead-out area includesa plurality of defect management areas (DMA 1 and DMA 2; DMA 3 and DMA4) for storing therein DMA information for defect management. Each ofthe DMAs 1-4 has a fixed size, e.g., 32 clusters. Generally, in view ofthe importance of defect management, the same information is written ineach of the DMAs 1-4 so that if one of the DMAs is defective, then adifferent DMA can be accessed to obtain the defect managementinformation.

[0040] It should be noted that in a general BD-RE, since data can berepeatedly recorded on and erased from a DMA (although the size of theDMA is limited), a DMA of large size is not required. However, in aBD-WO according to the present invention, since data cannot berepeatedly recorded on and erased from the DMA, a DMA of large size isrequired for defect management.

[0041] Still referring to FIG. 3, the lead-in area further includes atemporary defect management area (TDMA 1) for temporarily storing defectmanagement information therein. The data area includes an inner sparearea ISA0, a user data area, and an outer spare area OSA0. Parts of orthe entire ISA0 and OSA0 are used as replacement areas for defectiveareas in the user data area according to linear replacement. The outerspare area OSA0 includes a temporary defect management area (TDMA 2).The defect management information temporarily stored in the TDMA 1and/or TDMA 2 is also referred to herein as TDMA information.

[0042] In one embodiment, the TDMA 1 allocated to the lead-in area has afixed size, whereas the TDMA 2 allocated to the outer spare area OSA0has a variable size depending upon the size of the spare area(s). Forexample, if the OSA0 has a size of N×256 clusters where N>0 (N=integer),then the TDMA 2 has a size of P clusters where P=(N×256)/4.

[0043] In one example, the same information may be written in each ofthe TDMAs 1 and 2. In another example, the TDMAs 1 and 2 may besequentially used to sequentially record the TDMA information.Regardless, during replacement writing operations for writing data of adefective area onto a spare area, TDMA information is generated (e.g.,under control of the microcomputer 26) and written onto the TDMAs 1and/or 2. The TDMAs are also updated periodically or as needed. When theBD-WO is ready to be finalized (e.g., data writing operation in the userdata area is completed, the TDMA(s) are full, or a finalize commandreceived from a user, etc.), then the TDMA information (latest version)temporarily written in the TDMA(s) is transferred and written onto oneor each of the DMAs 1-4.

[0044] The TDMA information written in each of the TDMAs 1 and 2includes temporary defect list (TDFL) information and temporary discdefinition structure (TDDS) information. In one embodiment, the TDFLinformation includes one or a plurality of TDFLs (TDFL #1˜TDFL #n). EachTDFL includes one or a plurality of defect entries identifying defectsand corresponding replacement areas on the disc. Each defect entryincludes location information pertaining to a defective area of the userdata area and the corresponding replacement area. For example, during adata recording operation on the BD-WO, if a defective area is found inthe user data area, then data written or to be written in that defectivearea is written in a part (replacement area) of a spare area (e.g., ISA0or OSA0) according to a linear replacement scheme. Then the informationpertaining to the defective area and the replacement area and theirrelationship is entered as a defect entry in the TDFL. For instance,this information may include a first physical sector number of thedefective area on the disc, a first physical sector number of thereplacement area (spare area) corresponding to that defective area, andany other data pertaining to the defect for defect management.

[0045] In one embodiment, the TDDS information written in each of theTDMAs 1 and 2 includes one or a plurality of TDDSs (TDDS #1˜TDDS #n).Each TDDS has a fixed size (e.g., one cluster) and includes locationinformation pertaining to the TDFL(s) so that the location of any TDFLcan be quickly identified by accessing the TDDS(s). This locationinformation can be written in a portion of Sector 0 of the one clusterand may include one or more physical sector numbers each indicating alocation of a TDFL written on the BD-WO, and any other informationpertaining to the TDFL information. Here, a cluster has 32 sectors eachsector having 2048 bytes.

[0046] Each TDDS also includes recording mode information. The recordingmode information identifies a recording mode of the BD-WO and can bewritten in a portion of Sector 0 of the one cluster. The locationinformation pertaining to the TDFL(s) and the recording mode informationdiscussed above are also referred to herein as a TDDS part. Here, theTDDS part occupies the entire Sector 0 (or any other designated locationarea).

[0047] Each TDDS further includes disc usage management information,which identifies the status of a recording area of the BD-WO and whichcan be represented in one of the two forms: track information(Track-Info) and space bitmap information (SBM). This structure of theTDDS will be discussed in more detail later by referring to FIG. 4.

[0048] As the data recording operation for writing data into the dataarea progresses, the TDMAs may be updated periodically to reflect anyrecently discovered defective areas and corresponding replacement areas.After each updating of the TDMA, a TDFL and a corresponding TDDS, whichmay include all previous TDMA information and the recently generatedTDMA information, may be written in the TDMA. In this aspect, the latestTDDS and TDFL written in the TDMA of the BD-WO would include the latestTDMA information. Then when the BD-WO is to be finalized, the latestTDDS and TDFL written on the BD-WO are transferred and written in one oreach of the DMAs 1-4 as the final and most-updated defect managementinformation.

[0049]FIG. 4 illustrates a DDS structure of a rewritable disc, anexample of a TDDS structure on a BD-WO and a disc management informationrecording method for the BD-WO according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 4, in the DDS of a general rewritableoptical disc, only 60 byte information corresponding to an extremelysmall portion of 1 cluster is used to store therein the DDS information.The entire remaining part of the DDS is all set to ‘zero padding’.

[0050] In contrast, in the BD-WO, the entire TDDS area is used to storetherein the TDDS information. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the TDDS part(including the location information and the recording mode information)are written in the entire Sector 0 of the cluster assigned as the TDDS,whereas Sectors 1-31 store therein the disc usage management information(Track-Info or SBM). In another example, the disc usage managementinformation can be recorded on the first 31 sectors (Sectors 0˜30) inthe TDDS, and any remaining disc usage management information can berecorded on the last 32^(nd) sector (Sector 31) in the TDDS along withthe TDDS part.

[0051] The recording mode information identifies one of a plurality ofrecording modes employed in the BD-WO according to the presentinvention. In this example, a value of “0000 0000” may be used toindicate a sequential recoding mode, and a value of “0000 0001” may beused to indicate a random recording mode. Obviously, other examples arepossible. Information about the BD-WO according to the present inventioncan be variously determined depending upon the needs through a processof specification regulation.

[0052] The disc usage management information is varied in dependenceupon the disc usage. In the BD-WO, the disc usage management informationis required for accurately searching and detecting the start point of anavailable recording area, and is used to distinguish a recording areafrom a non-recording area on the disc. In this aspect, the disc usagemanagement information indicates where the available recording area andthe recorded area are located within the data area (e.g., user dataarea).

[0053] As mentioned above, the disc usage management information can berepresented as either the track information (Track-Info) or the spacebitmap information (SBM). The Track-Info is generally used when theBD-WO is recorded in a sequential recording mode. The SBM is generallyused when the BD-WO is recorded in a random recording mode. Theserecording modes can be determined depending on the recording modeidentified in the recording mode information stored in the TDDS.

[0054] In conventional writable-once optical discs, the recordingstatus/mode information is expressed as ‘track information’ in case ofcompact disc series, and as ‘Rzone’, ‘Fragment’ or ‘recording range’ incase of DVD series. But in the present invention, the aforementionedvarious expressions relating to the recording status/mode informationare commonly designated as ‘Track-Info’, and accordingly the Track-Infowill be appreciated as having such meaning irrespective of expressions.

[0055] In one example, since the tracks on the BD-WO are sequentiallyused to record during the sequential recording mode, the Track-Infoidentifies the start point (location) of the recording area (e.g., userdata area) of the BD-WO, and the end point (location) of the lastrecorded portion of the recording area. This information then indicatesthe start of the next available portion of the recording area on theBND-WO.

[0056] The bitmap information identifies a start point of an availablerecordable portion of the recording area on the BD-WO using bit valuessuch as ‘0’ and ‘1’. For instance, if a particular cluster area of therecording area on the BD-WO has been recorded, then it is indicated byallocating a value of ‘1’ to every minimal recording unit (1 cluster).If a cluster area of the recording area has no recorded data thereon,then that cluster is assigned to a value of ‘0’. In this manner, if theSBM indicates that a particular cluster has a value of ‘1’ assignedthereto, then it indicates that that cluster has been already used(i.e., it has recorded data thereon). If the SBM indicates that aparticular cluster has a value of ‘0’, then it indicates that thatcluster has not been used yet (i.e., it has no recorded data thereon).Obviously, the reversal or some other values may be used to indicate therecording/non-recording state of each area unit such as the clusters ofthe user data area. Thus, the SBM makes it possible to express arecording usage status of the disc even in the random recording mode.

[0057]FIG. 12 illustrates a structure of a writable-once opticalrecording medium, such as a single-layer BD-WO, according to anotherembodiment of the present invention. The BD-WO structure of FIG. 12 isidentical to the BD-WO structure of FIG. 3, except that the TDDS part,which includes the location information of the TDFL(s) and the recordingmode information, is updated and written after each update state, asshown in FIG. 12. In this aspect, the disc usage management information(Track-Info or SBM) is stored in Sectors 0-30 of one cluster, and theTDDS part is stored in Sector 31 of the one cluster. The TDDS partoccupies the entire Sector 31. In another example, the TDDS part may bestored in the entire Sector 0 of one cluster, and the Track-Info or SBMmay be stored in Sectors 1-31 of the one cluster.

[0058]FIG. 5 illustrates a structure of a dual layer BD-WO according toan embodiment of the present invention. The structure of the dual layerBD-WO and designations of each area shown in FIG. 5 are exemplary fordescription convenience and understanding, and does not limit to thescope of the present invention.

[0059] Referring to FIG. 5, the BD-WO includes two recording layers. Thefirst recording layer (Layer 0 or L0) includes a lead-in area, a dataarea 40 a, and an outer zone area Outer Zone 0. The second recordinglayer (Layer 1 or L1) includes a lead-out area, a data area 40 b and anouter zone area Outer Zone 1. The lead-in area of the first recordinglayer (Layer 0) includes a temporary defect management area TDMA 1 and aplurality of final defect management areas DMA1 a and DMA 2 a. Thelead-out area of the second recording layer (Layer 1) includes atemporary defect management area TDMA 4, and a plurality of final defectmanagement areas DMA 1 b and DMA 2 b. Additional final defect managementareas (e.g., DMAs 3 a, 3 b, 4 a, 4 b) are also provided in the OuterZone 0 and/or the Outer Zone 1.

[0060] The data area 40 a of the first recording layer (Layer 0)includes an inner spare area ISA0, a user data area 42 a, and an outerspare area OSA0. The data area 40 b of the second recording layer (Layer1) includes an inner spare area ISA1, a user data area 42 b, and anouter spare area OSA1. The outer spare area OSA0 and/or the outer sparearea OSA1 includes a TDMA (e.g., TDMA 2 or TDMA 3). The arrows depictedin each of the areas shown in FIG. 5 are examples of a data recordingdirection.

[0061] Similar to the single layer BD-WO, the TDMAs 1 and 4 may have afixed size, whereas the TDMAs 2 and 3 in the spare areas may have avariable size depending upon the size of the spare area(s). For example,if the OSA0/OSA1 has a size of N×256 clusters where N>0 (N=integer),then the TDMA 2/TDMA 3 has a size of P clusters where P =(N×256)/4.

[0062] The use and structure of the DMAs and TDMAs on the single layerBD-WO as discussed above applies equally to the DMAs and TDMAs on thedual layer BD-WO. One difference is that each of the DMAs 1 a-4 b ineach recording layer of the dual layer BD-WO has a size of 32 clusterssuch that a DMA in the first recording layer and a corresponding DMA inthe second recording layer constitute one full DMA. For instance, theDMAs 1 a and 1 b constitute one DMA, the DMAs 2 a and 2 b constitute oneDMA, the DMAs 3 a and 3 b constitute one DMA, and the DMAs 4 a and 4 bconstitute one DMA. In this regard, same information is recorded in eachof the DMAs 1 a, 2 a, 3 a and 4 a of the first recording layer.Information, which may be different from the information recorded in theDMAs 1 a, 2 a, 3 a, 4 a, is recorded in each of the DMAs 1 b, 2 b, 3 band 4 b.

[0063] When the BD-WO is to be finalized (e.g., data writing operationin the user data area is completed, the TDMA(s) are full, or a finalizecommand received from a user, a host, a disk manufacturer, etc.), theTDMA information already stored in the TDMA(s) is now written onto theDMA(s) as DMA information. This process of transferring the TDMAinformation into the DMA will now be discussed according to theembodiments of the present invention by referring to FIGS. 6A-11, wheredual layer BD-WOs are discussed.

[0064]FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate a structure of clusters for one DMA ofa general dual layer BD-RE (rewritable disc) and are provided to explainfurther the aspects of the present invention. The method of transferringthe TDMA information for the BD-WO according to the present inventionassures some reciprocity with the rewritable optical disc (BD-RE).

[0065] Similar to the DMA structure of the BD-WO, the BD-RE includes asshown in FIG. 6A, one DMA composed of a DMA part (Clusters 1-32) fromthe first recording layer and a DMA part (Clusters 33-64) from thesecond recording layer, which are accessed according to the trackingdirection indicated with the arrow. As shown in FIG. 6B, the same DDSinformation is repeatedly recorded on the Clusters 1˜4 of the DMA, andthe DFL information is repeatedly recorded on the Clusters 9˜64 of theDMA. However, in the BD-RE, the Clusters 5˜8 are not used at all fordefect management.

[0066] The present invention as shown in, e.g., FIGS. 7-11 provides anewly defined DMA structure for a dual layer BD-WO based on the DMAstructure of the BD-RE of FIGS. 6A and 6B, for assuring reciprocity withthe rewritable optical disc (BD-RE). Referring to FIGS. 7 to 11, severalembodiments of the present invention will be discussed wherein, when thelatest disc management information is finalized in a TDMA of the BD-WO,a disc finalize command is received, the TDMA(s) is full, etc., it istransferred and recorded on a DMA of the BD-WO. Particularly, the latestTDFL information and the latest TDDS information in a TDMA aretransferred to the DMA as DFL information and DDS information,respectively. This transfer process is also called herein as the TDMAinformation transfer process.

[0067] It should be understood that one DMA shown in each of FIGS. 7 to10 corresponds to one DMA composed of DMA parts from the first andsecond recording layers. For instance, one DMA (Clusters 1˜64) shown ineach of FIGS. 7-10 is composed of the DMA 2 a (Clusters 1-32) in thefirst recording layer and the DMA 2 b (Clusters 33-64) in the secondrecording layer of the BD-WO shown in FIG. 5. Also one TDMA shown ineach of FIGS. 7-11 corresponds to a TDMA (e.g., TDMA 1, 2, 3 or 4) onthe BD-WO shown in FIG. 5.

[0068]FIG. 7 illustrates a structure of a DMA and a TDMA of a dual layerBD-WO and a method of transferring data from the TDMA to the DMAaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0069] Referring to FIG. 7, during the TDMA information transferprocess, the latest defect management information (latest TDFLinformation and latest TDDS information) in the TDMA is transferred toand recorded on a DMA of the BD-WO. Among the TDDS information, the TDDSpart (including the TDFL location information and the recording modeinformation) and the disc usage management information (Track-Info orSBM) (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4) are transferred onto the DMA. Inthis example, the Clusters 1-8 of the DMA are designated as a DDSsection, whereas the Clusters 9-64 of the DMA are designated as a DFLsection. All the clusters of the DMA in the BD-WO are designated forstoring management data.

[0070] More specifically, the disc usage management information (D0) andthe TDDS part (T0) for the first recording layer L0, which may bewritten separately in the TDMA from the disc usage managementinformation (D1) and the TDDS part (T1) for the second recording layerL1, are transferred and written separately and repeatedly into the DMA.In this example, the D0 and T0 for the first recording layer L0 arerepeatedly (four times) recorded on the Clusters 1 to 4 of the DDSsection. Further, the D1 and T1 for the second recording layer L1 arerepeatedly (four times) recorded on the Clusters 5 to 8 of the DDSsection in the DMA. As a result, the DDS section of the DMA includes thelatest TDDS part and the latest disc usage management information forthe first and second recording layers written in the following order:D0&T0, D0&T0, D0&T0, D0&T0, D1&T1, D1&T1, D1&T1, D1&T1, where D0&T0 orD1&T1 is recorded in one unit size, e.g., one cluster size. In thisaspect, in one example, the T0/T1 written in the DDS section of the DMAmay identify the location of the DFLs in the DMA on the BD-WO, and notnecessarily the location of the TDFLs in the TDMA on the BD-WO.

[0071] Moreover, the Clusters 9-64 (DFL section) of the DMA are used tostore therein DFL information which corresponds to or is based on thelatest TDFL information in the TDMA. In this example, the same DFLinformation can be written repeatedly (e.g., up to seven times) in theDFL section of the DMA. Storing the same information repeatedly in theDDS section or the DFL section ensures that the DMA information is notlost (e.g., due to a defect in a portion of the DMA) and is accuratelyand completely accessed each time it is needed.

[0072] In one embodiment, the latest disc usage management informationis recorded each on the front part of a first DMA in the lead-in areaand/or on the front/rear part of a DMA in the lead-out area (dependingon whether the disc is a single layer or multiple layer). This allowsthe disc usage management information to be accessed quickly at theinitial loading time of the disc. Further, the data reliability and datapreservation can be assured by repetitive recording of same informationin different parts of the disc. For instance, if the Clusters 1-32 ofthe DMA shown in FIG. 7 is assumed to correspond to the DMA 2 a shown inFIG. 5, then the information recorded in the Clusters 1-32 shown in FIG.7 is repeatedly recorded in each of the other DMAs 1 a, 3 a and 4 a ofthe first recording layer. Similarly, if the Clusters 33-64 of the DMAshown in FIG. 7 is assumed to correspond to the DMA 2 b shown in FIG. 5,then the information recorded in the Clusters 33-64 shown FIG. 7 isrepeatedly recorded in each of the other DMAs 1 b, 3 b and 4 b of thesecond recording layer.

[0073]FIG. 8 illustrates a structure of a DMA and a TDMA of a dual layerBD-WO and a method of transferring data from the TDMA to the DMAaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. This example isidentical to the example of FIG. 7, except that in this example, thelatest disc usage management information D0 and the latest TDDS part T0for the first recording layer L0 is 4-times recorded in the Clusters 1-2and 5-6 of the DMA, and the latest disc usage management information D1and the latest TDDS part T1 for the second recording layer L1 is also4-times recorded in the Clusters 3-4 and 7-8 of the DMA. As a result,the DDS section of the DMA includes the latest TDDS part and the latestdisc usage management information for the first and second recordinglayers written in the following order: D0&T0, D0&T0, D1&T1, D1&T1,D0&T0, D0&T0, D1&T1, D1&T1, where D0&T0 or D1&T1 is recorded in one unitsize, e.g., one cluster size. In another variation, the Clusters 5 to 8in the DMA can be in a reserved state without any repetitive recordingsuch that only the Clusters 1-4 (and not the Clusters 5-8) have the D0,T0, D1 and T1 recorded thereon.

[0074]FIG. 9 illustrates a structure of a DMA and a TDMA of a dual layerBD-WO and a method of transferring data from the TDMA to the DMAaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. This example isidentical to the example of FIG. 7, except that in this example, each ofthe (D0&T0) and (D1&T1) for the first and second recording layers L0 andL1 is alternatively and repeatedly recorded in the DDS section of theDMA by the unit of, e.g., one cluster.

[0075] Particularly, as shown in FIG. 9, the latest D0 and T0 for thefirst recording layer L0 is recorded in each of the Clusters 1, 3, 5 and7 of the DMA, and the latest D1 and T1 for the second recording layer L1is recorded in each of the Clusters 2, 4, 6 and 8 of the DMA. As aresult, the DDS section of the DMA includes the latest TDDS part and thelatest disc usage management information for the first and secondrecording layers written in the following order: D0&T0, D1&T1, D0&T0,D1&T1, D0&T0, D1&T1, D0&T0, D1&T1, where D0&T0 or D1&T1 is recorded inone unit size, e.g., one cluster size. In another variation, theClusters 5 to 8 in the DMA can be in a reserved state without anyrepetitive recording such that only the Clusters 1-4 (and not theClusters 5-8) have the D0, T0, D1 and T1 recorded thereon.

[0076]FIG. 10 illustrates a structure of a DMA and a TDMA of a duallayer BD-WO and a method of transferring data from the TDMA to the DMAaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. This example isidentical to the example of FIG. 7, except that in this example, thelatest D0&T0 and D1&T1 are recorded in the DDS section of the DMA inthat order. Then the same information is recorded in the reverse orderin the subsequent fields, or the subsequent fields are reserved.

[0077] Particularly, in this example, as shown in FIG. 10, the latest D0and T0 for the first recording layer L0 are recorded in each of theClusters 1, 4, 5 and 8 of the DMA, and the latest D1 and T1 for thesecond recording layer L1 are recorded in each of the Clusters 2, 3, 6and 7 of the DMA. As a result, the DDS section of the DMA includes thelatest TDDS part and the latest disc usage management information forthe first and second recording layers written in the following order:D0&T0, D1&T1, D1&T1, D0&T0, D0&T0, D1&T1, D1&T1, D0&T0, where D0&T0 orD1&T1 is recorded in one unit size, e.g., one cluster size. In anothervariation, the Clusters 5 to 8 in the DMA are in a reserved statewithout any repetitive recording such that only the Clusters 1-4 (andnot the Clusters 5-8) have the D0, T0, D1 and T1 recorded thereon in theorder of: DO&TO, D1&T1, D1&T1, and DO&T0.

[0078] The above sequence of D0&T0, D1&T1, D1&T1, and D0&T0 prevents allor most of the disc usage management information for one recording layerfrom being simultaneously destroyed or illegible due to the fact thatthe recording area of the disc is substantially shaped in circles and adefect such as a scratch on the disc is generated in a linear directionacross one or more circles.

[0079] In the embodiments of FIGS. 7-10, if the track information(Track-Info) is used as the disc usage management information for theBD-WO, then the first and second disc usage management information DOand D1 for the first and second recording layers will be the same. As aresult, the same latest disc usage management information is recorded inthe DMA for both the first and second recording layers.

[0080]FIG. 11 illustrates a structure of a DMA and a TDMA of a duallayer BD-WO and a method of transferring data from the TDMA to the DMAaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. This example isidentical to the example of FIG. 7, except that in this example, thelatest D0 and T0 for the first recording layer L0 are repeatedly (e.g.,four times) recorded in the Clusters 1 to 4 of the DMA, and the latestD1 and T1 for the second recording layer L1 are repeatedly (e.g., fourtimes) recorded in the Clusters 33 to 36 of the DMA. Here, the Clusters1-32 of the DMA are located on the first recording layer L0 (e.g., asthe DMA 2 a of FIG. 5), and the Clusters 33-64 of the DMA are located onthe second recording layer L1 (e.g., as the DMA 2 b of FIG. 5). As aresult, the disc usage management information for the first recordinglayer is distinguished from the disc usage management information forthe second recording layer by being recorded in different recordinglayers. Also, the Clusters 5-8 and 37-40 are reserved and the Clusters9-32 and 41-64 are used to store therein DFL information as discussedabove.

[0081] Although the specific number and order of the repetitions havebeen identified for recording the D0&T0 and D1&&T1 in association withthe FIGS. 7-11 embodiments, the present invention is not limited to suchand encompasses any other number and/or different order of therepetitions.

[0082] According to the present invention, in a single layer BD-WO case,the latest T0 and D0 for the single recording layer are repeatedlyrecorded in the DDS section of the DMA. Similarly, the latest TDFLinformation is repeatedly recorded as needed in the DFL section of theDMA.

[0083] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present invention. Thus,it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of managing a writable-once opticalrecording medium, the recording medium including at least one recordinglayer, the method comprising: providing a user area and a non-user areaon the at least one recording layer of the recording medium; providingat least one temporary defect management area in at least one of theuser area and the non-user area, the at least one temporary defectmanagement area allocated to store therein temporary defect managementinformation including disc usage management information, the disc usagemanagement information indicating a recording or non-recording status ofthe user area of the recording medium; and providing at least one finaldefect management area in the non-user area.
 2. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the at least one final defect management area isprovided to store therein the disc usage management informationtransferred from the at least one temporary defect management area. 3.The method according to claim 2, wherein the at least one recordinglayer includes a plurality of recording layers each having a finaldefect management area, and the disc usage management information foreach of the recording layers is separately recorded all in at least oneof the final defect management areas of the recording layers.
 4. Themethod according to claim 2, wherein the at least one recording layerincludes a plurality of recording layers each having a final defectmanagement area, and the disc usage management information for each ofthe recording layers is separately and correspondingly recorded in thefinal defect management area of the corresponding recording layer. 5.The method according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is awritable-once Blu-ray disc (BD-WO).
 6. A method of managing awritable-once optical recording medium, the recording medium includingat least one recording layer, the at least one recording layer having atleast one temporary defect management area and at least one final defectmanagement area, the method comprising: recording temporary defectmanagement information in the at least one temporary defect managementarea of the recording medium, the temporary defect managementinformation including disc usage management information indicating arecording use status of the recording medium; and transferring thetemporary defect management information from the at least one temporarydefect management area to the at least one final defect management areaof the recording medium.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein theat least one recording layer includes a plurality of recording layerseach having a final defect management area, and in the transferringstep, the disc usage management information for each of the recordinglayers is separately recorded all in at least one of the final defectmanagement areas of the recording layers.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein the disc usage management information includes a first discusage management information (D0) for a first recording layer of therecording medium and a second disc usage management information (D1) fora second recording layer of the recording medium, such that in thetransferring step, the first and second disc usage managementinformation is recorded sequentially in at least one of the final defectmanagement areas of the recording layers according to the followingorder: D0, D0, D0, D0, D1, D1, D1 and D1.
 9. The method of claim 7,wherein the disc usage management information includes a first discusage management information (D0) for a first recording layer of therecording medium and a second disc usage management information (D1) fora second recording layer of the recording medium, such that in thetransferring step, the first and second disc usage managementinformation is recorded sequentially in at least one of the final defectmanagement areas of the recording layers according to the followingorder: D0, D0, D1, D1, D0, D0, D1 and D1.
 10. The method of claim 7,wherein the disc usage management information includes a first discusage management information (D0) for a first recording layer of therecording medium and a second disc usage management information (D1) fora second recording layer of the recording medium, such that in thetransferring step, the first and second disc usage managementinformation is recorded sequentially in at least one of the final defectmanagement areas of the recording layers according to the followingorder: D0, D1, D0, D1, D0, D1, D0 and D1.
 11. The method of claim 7,wherein the disc usage management information includes a first discusage management information (D0) for a first recording layer of therecording medium and a second disc usage management information (D1) fora second recording layer of the recording medium, such that in thetransferring step, the first and second disc usage managementinformation is recorded sequentially in at least one of the final defectmanagement areas of the recording layers according to the followingorder: D0, D1, D1 and D0.
 12. The method according to claim 11, whereina certain number of fields, following the recorded first and second discusage management information, in the at least one of the final defectmanagement areas are reserved for other use.
 13. The method according toclaim 6, wherein the at least one recording layer includes a pluralityof recording layers each having a final defect management area, and thedisc usage management information for each of the recording layers isseparately and correspondingly recorded in the final defect managementarea of the corresponding recording layer.
 14. The method of claim 6,wherein the recording medium includes a recording area on the at leastone recording layer, the recording area divided into a plurality oftracks, and the disc usage management information represents trackposition information identifying an end point of a last recorded trackon the recording medium.
 15. The method of claim 6, wherein the discusage management information represent a space bit map.
 16. The methodaccording to claim 6, wherein the transferring step is performed whenthe recording medium is to be finalized.
 17. The method according toclaim 16, wherein the recording medium is to be finalized if a datarecording operation in a user data area of the recording medium iscompleted, if the at least one temporary defect management area is full,or if a finalize command is received.
 18. The method according to claim6, wherein in the transferring step, the transferred temporary defectmanagement information further includes temporary defect listinformation and temporary disc definition structure information, and islatest temporary defect management information written on the recordingmedium.
 19. The method according to claim 6, wherein the recordingmedium is a writable-once Blu-ray disc (BD-WO).
 20. The method accordingto claim 6, wherein in the transferring step, the temporary defectmanagement information transferred is the latest temporary defectmanagement information stored in the at least one temporary defectmanagement area.
 21. An apparatus for managing a writable-once opticalrecording medium, the recording medium including at least one recordinglayer, the apparatus comprising: means for providing a user area and anon-user area on the at least one recording layer of the recordingmedium; means for providing at least one temporary defect managementarea in at least one of the user area and the non-user area, the atleast one temporary defect management area allocated to store thereintemporary defect management information including disc usage managementinformation, the disc usage management information indicating arecording or non-recording status of the user area of the recordingmedium; and means for providing at least one final defect managementarea in the non-user area.
 22. An apparatus for managing a writable-onceoptical recording medium, the recording medium including at least onerecording layer, the at least one recording layer having at least onetemporary defect management area and at least one final defectmanagement area, the apparatus comprising: means for recording temporarydefect management information in the at least one temporary defectmanagement area of the recording medium, the temporary defect managementinformation including disc usage management information indicating arecording use status of the recording medium; and means for transferringthe temporary defect management information from the at least onetemporary defect management area to the at least one final defectmanagement area of the recording medium.
 23. A writable-once opticalrecording medium comprising: at least one recording layer including auser area and a non-user area; at least one temporary defect managementarea provided in at least one of the user area and the non-user area ofthe recording medium, so as to store therein temporary defect managementinformation including disc usage management information, the disc usagemanagement information indicating a recording or non-recording status ofthe user area of the recording medium; and at least one final defectmanagement area provided in the non-user area.
 24. The recording mediumaccording to claim 23, wherein the at least one final defect managementarea is provided on the recording medium to store therein the disc usagemanagement information transferred from the at least one temporarydefect management area.
 25. The recording medium according to claim 24,wherein the at least one recording layer includes a plurality ofrecording layers each having a final defect management area, and thedisc usage management information for each of the recording layers isseparately recorded all in at least one of the final defect managementareas of the recording layers.
 26. The recording medium according toclaim 24, wherein the at least one recording layer includes a pluralityof recording layers each having a final defect management area, and thedisc usage management information for each of the recording layers isseparately and correspondingly recorded in the final defect managementarea of the corresponding recording layer.
 27. The recording mediumaccording to claim 23, wherein the recording medium is a writable-onceBlu-ray disc (BD-WO).
 28. A writable-once optical recording mediumcomprising: at least one recording layer including at least onetemporary defect management area and at least one final defectmanagement area, wherein temporary defect management information isrecorded in the at least one temporary defect management area of therecording medium, the temporary defect management information includingdisc usage management information indicating a recording use status ofthe recording medium, and wherein the temporary defect managementinformation is transferred from the at least one temporary defectmanagement area to the at least one final defect management area of therecording medium.
 29. The recording medium according to claim 28,wherein the at least one recording layer includes a plurality ofrecording layers each having a final defect management area, and thedisc usage management information for each of the recording layers isseparately recorded all in at least one of the final defect managementareas of the recording layers.
 30. The recording medium of claim 29,wherein the disc usage management information includes a first discusage management information (D0) for a first recording layer of therecording medium and a second disc usage management information (D1) fora second recording layer of the recording medium, such that the firstand second disc usage management information is recorded sequentially inat least one of the final defect management areas of the recordinglayers according to the following order: D0, D0, D0, D0, D1, D1, D1 andD1.
 31. The recording medium of claim 29, wherein the disc usagemanagement information includes a first disc usage managementinformation (D0) for a first recording layer of the recording medium anda second disc usage management information (D1) for a second recordinglayer of the recording medium, such that the first and second disc usagemanagement information is recorded sequentially in at least one of thefinal defect management areas of the recording layers according to thefollowing order: D0, D0, D1, D1, D0, D0, D1 and D1.
 32. The recordingmedium of claim 29, wherein the disc usage management informationincludes a first disc usage management information (D0) for a firstrecording layer of the recording medium and a second disc usagemanagement information (D1) for a second recording layer of therecording medium, such that the first and second disc usage managementinformation is recorded sequentially in at least one of the final defectmanagement areas of the recording layers according to the followingorder: D0, D1, D0, D1, D0, D1, D0 and D1.
 33. The recording medium ofclaim 29, wherein the disc usage management information includes a firstdisc usage management information (D0) for a first recording layer ofthe recording medium and a second disc usage management information (D1)for a second recording layer of the recording medium, such that thefirst and second disc usage management information is recordedsequentially in at least one of the final defect management areas of therecording layers according to the following order: D0, D1, D1 and D0.34. The method according to claim 33, wherein a certain number offields, following the recorded first and second disc usage managementinformation, in the at least one of the final defect management areasare reserved for other use.
 35. The recording medium according to claim28, wherein the at least one recording layer includes a plurality ofrecording layers each having a final defect management area, and thedisc usage management information for each of the recording layers isseparately and correspondingly recorded in the final defect managementarea of the corresponding recording layer.
 36. The recording medium ofclaim 28, wherein the recording medium includes a recording area on theat least one recording layer, the recording area divided into aplurality of tracks, and the disc usage management informationrepresents track position information identifying an end point of a lastrecorded track on the recording medium.
 37. The recording medium ofclaim 28, wherein the disc usage management information represent aspace bit map.
 38. The recording medium according to claim 28, whereinthe temporary defect management information is transferred from the atleast one temporary defect management area to the at least one finaldefect management area when the recording medium is to be finalized. 39.The recording medium according to claim 38, wherein the recording mediumis to be finalized if a data recording operation in a user data area ofthe recording medium is completed, if the at least one temporary defectmanagement area is full, or if a finalize command is received.
 40. Therecording medium according to claim 28, wherein the transferredtemporary defect management information includes temporary defect listinformation and temporary disc definition structure information, and islatest temporary defect management information written on the recordingmedium.
 41. The recording medium according to claim 28, wherein therecording medium is a writable-once Blu-ray disc (BD-WO).
 42. The methodaccording to claim 28, wherein the temporary defect managementinformation transferred is the latest temporary defect managementinformation stored in the at least one temporary defect management area.